Twenty-five years after his cult TV series, Kir Royal, director Helmut Dietl has now come released a sort of ?sequel? for the big screen. Zettl focuses on the high-flying career of a ruthless media man in Berlin. As satire, however, the frigid figures in Zettl fail to warm up to viewers. ...
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George Bush has plunged America into the worst slump since the Great Depression, writes Vanity Fair. In Nepszabadsag, sociologist Elemer Hankiss would like to see a bit more grit from Hungarian journalists. Il Foglio presents Al Jazeera's new competitor. Commentary remembers a gifted music critic who couldn't read a note. Literary scholar Eva Cs. Gyimesi introduces a Transylvanian magazine for Europe. And Le Point calls Marcel Gauchet the new Plato.
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In the New York Review of Books, Sergei Kovalev paints a grim picture of Putin's Byzantine system. In Asharq al-Awsat, French-Syrian sociologist Burhan Ghalioun declares the conspiracy theory to be the enemy of the Arab world. In Gazeta Wyborcza, philosopher Bronislaw Lagowski explains the left's weak footing among the Polish people. In Le Point, Philip Roth resists all attempts to reduce erections to trifles. The TLS criticises solipsistic anti-democratic coffee consumption. And Folio indulges in a spot of sole searching.
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The New Yorker recapitulates the history of the universal library and discovers some predecessors of websites like ours. Outlook India portrays the first Indian American governor in US history. Merkur explains who pays the price for the CFA franc. In Nepszabadsag, poet Akos Szilagyi reflects on asymmetrical wars. The Economist unravels the term "armed social work." In Le Point, Peter Sloterdijk holds up his geiger counter to French lunacy. And in The New Statesman, dramatist Kwame Kwei-Armah asks why black British actors have to leave for the States if they want a career, and not just a job.
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The New York Review of Books doubts that Islam really is such a peaceful religion. Przekroj fears that Kosovo could divide the EU. In the Spectator, Norman Stone won't tolerate politics interfering with the work of historians. In Letras Libres, writer Gabriel Zaid lists the most common misunderstandings about culture. In Le Point philosopher Rene Girard says the end is nigh. And in Die Weltwoche Roger Schawinski singles out Die Weltwoche in a sea of mediocrity.
The New Yorker introduces the well tempered Web. In Magyar Narancs author Richard Fekete uses the Internet to reach an audience the magazines avoid. The Economist casts a glance at grassroots organisations of middle-aged suburbanites. The Spectator surveys a Chinese prison from the inside. ResetDoc debates mosque construction in Italy. Il Foglio giggles over a big fat one. In Die Weltwoche, agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug tells the rich and spoilt: there is no such thing as no-risk. And Hollywood's ten most powerful women convene in Salon.com.
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How can one still be on the left, asks Bernard-Henri Levy in the Nouvel Obs. Trouw fans the flames of the Dutch integration debate. Il Foglio presents the only Native American in the Mussolini camp. Elet es Irodalom congratulates Magda Szabo, grande dame of Hungarian raconteurs, on her 90th. Steven Pinker explains in The New Republic the semantic distinction between making love and fucking. The New Statesman scrutinises the legacy of Che Guevara. And The New York Times is concerned about British libel law.
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The New York Review of Books declares Iran the winner of the Iraq War. NZZ's Folio magazine is thrilled at India's 2,000 dollar car. In Telerama, Belgian artists express their worries about the division of their country. Elet es Irodalom analyses populist trends in Hungary and Poland. Al Ahram debates the sense and nonsense of the fatwa. And L'Espresso shows how cabaret artist Beppe Grillo is opening up the democratic potential of the Web.
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Andrzej Wajda's film about Katyn is not particularly original but it is useful, writes Przekroj. L'Espresso reports on an unknown document by Primo Levi. In Harvard Magazine, Stephen Greenblatt advises academics to take risks a third of the time. The Guardian celebrates Georg Baselitz. In ADN cultura, writer Martin Caparros gives his definition of reportage. Gazeta Wyborcza enjoys the Czech warmth in Polish cinema. In the Nouvel Obs, Hans Magnus Enzensberger describes himself as a participatory observer of 68. In Die Weltwoche, Björn Lomborg says the future is brighter for butterflies than for bears. And The New York Times portrays Michael Haneke as the Minister of Fear.
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In Le Point anthropologist Malek Chebel chips away at the taboo on slavery in Islam. The Economist counts Web 2.0 copycats in China. In L'Espresso, writer Suketu Mehta sees power in India shifting in the direction of the Dalits. In The New York Review of Books legal philosopher Richard Dworkin observes the Jacobin revolution in the US Supreme Court. In the London Review of Books historian Perrry Anderson attacks European narcissism. Hanna Schygulla in Die Weltwoche tells art where to go. And In Le Monde diplomatique, sinologist Wolfgang Kubin has trouble remounting his steed after a double liang.
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The New Yorker gets its teeth into planning the US defeat in Iraq. Le Monde discusses rights for robots. Al Hayat lashes out at authoritarianism and lack of transparency in Arabia. In Literaturen Andrzej Stasiuk is in the audience at the drama of Polishness. Figyelö condemns Hungary's unpalatable middle class. The Spectator travels to the wastelands of Rajasthan, so favourable for producing billionaires. Die Weltwoche looks for proof of the Collatz Conjecture. Trouw puzzles over Taliban Fritz and Guerillera Tanja. Il Foglio savours tripe soup in Istanbul. And the TLS wonders whether charisma and sprezzatura are thrust upon one.
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In Internationale Politik, Syrian philosopher Sadiq al-Asm describes Salman Rushdie as the new Galileo. Al Ahram is shocked to report that masturbation has replaced sex in Egypt. The Economist explains why the USA is so relaxed about mosque building. L'Espressso sets out on the trail of the Godfather of San Luca. In Gazeta Wyborcza, Adam Krzeminski and Heinrich August Winkler discuss the tangled web of German-Polish relations. Prospect bemoans the political apathy of the Indian middle classes. Outlook India is nonplussed by the world record holder in speed ketchup-drinking. In Nepszabadsag, Noam Chomsky claims that the USA was more socialist than Eastern Europe. And The New York Times enters the world of Rick Rubin.
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The New Yorker investigates big city agrarian life. Outlook India waits in vain for the independent Indian woman. The Jesuits have set up a mission in Second Life, reports Tygodnik Powszechny. The Boston Globe presents an elegant hatchet man - the new literary critic at The New Yorker. In Gazeta Wyborcza, director Jan Klata explains why he would no longer vote Kaczynski. V.S. Naipaul writes about Derek Walcott in The Guardian. Elet es Irodalom is not happy with the folklore image of Hungarians living abroad. Semana looks for the Latin American Bartleybys. And Dissent quarrels over Nick Cohen's book "What's Left?"
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Merkur takes a stance against the supposed decadence of the West. In the New York Times, Mark Lilla writes on the politics of God and his modern prophets. The Economist is struck by how badly the CIA does its job. Outlook India portrays the feudal power wielded by the Owaisi family in the old town of Hyderabad. The Nouvel Observateur traces the sexism of philosophers. In the Guardian, Germaine Greer envisions under what circumstances Ann Hathaway may have read the sonnets of unfaithful Shakespeare.
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The TLS shudders at the Doomsday Machines of the real world. Outlook India celebrates 60 years of freedom from colonialism. In Le Figaro, historian Elisabeth G. Sledziewski bemoans French ignorance about the Warsaw Uprising. Il Foglio even admires Garibaldi's thousand mistakes. Magyar Narancs fears Northern Irish conditions in Hungary. The Economist presents a study in comparative dictatorships. And The New Yorker follows the posthumous rise of sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick.
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In The New York Times, Michael Ignatieff regrets having endorsed the Iraq War. The New Yorker examines the exclusive interrogation programme of the CIA. Al Hayat recommends Arab countries focus more on people and less on God, blood and soil. After an attack on critics of Islam, Afshin Ellian asks in Elsevier what distinguishes Amsterdam from Tehran. In Gazeta Wyborcza, Mykola Rjabtschuk fears Ukraine may have shifted eastwards. Magyar Hirlap bemoans the mentality of subservience in Hungary. The Spectator identifies digitally-savvy seniors as the true trendsetters. And Il Foglio reads the personal ads.
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